Ann Eveleth
Inkatha Freedom Party Izingolweni chairman Sipho Ngcobo is under investigation in connection with allegations that a firearm he allegedly reported stolen in June last year was linked to two prior murder cases.
The Mail & Guardian has established Ngcobo is the man referred to by the special investigation team probing a spate of murders on KwaZulu-Natal’s South Coast, which issued a statement saying: ”A fairly senior IFP member” was under investigation after charges relating to a case of housebreaking and theft of a firearm. reported to the Izingolweni police on June 8 1995, ”appeared to be false”.
”The matter came to the attention of the special investigation team as the firearm in question was linked to two other murder cases,” including the June 1 murder of a bus driver and a June 2 attack on a hut in Shobashobane in which three people were killed and a fourth wounded, reported team spokesperson Reg Crewe. Crewe added that charges against five out of six persons initially arrested in connection with the housebreaking allegation had been withdrawn and they would be used as state witnesses in the aforementioned murder cases. The sixth suspect had been killed in the Shobashobane massacre of 19 people in Shobashobane, said Crewe.
Crewe would not confirm that Ngcobo is the ”fairly senior IFP” man referred to in the team’s statement. Ngcobo — whose house next to the Izingolweni police station in Nkulu Ward looks across the valley to Shobashobane — is believed to have reported his firearm stolen last June.
He was alleged by slain African National Congress Shobashobane leader Kipha Nyawosa — – whose body was disemboweled during the massacre — to be responsible for fomenting violence in the area. Contrary to reports, Ngcobo is not a ”senior politician” and does not hold any public post. Ngcobo also faces charges in connection with a spate of pre- election attacks claimed by the shadowy Natal Liberation Army, alleged to be a nebulous alliance of IFP supporters and white rightwingers.
Crewe also reported this week that an eighth suspect had been arrested in connection with the 1994 massacre of five people in Mvutshini on the South Coast. This brings to 28 the number of suspects arrested by the special investigation team in connection with 14 murder cases, he said.
Ngcobo — together with IFP South Coast Publicity Chairman James Zulu and AWB South Coast leader Christie Mortimer — also faces murder charges in connection with a 1994 attack on a Flagstaff police station. Zulu, who was arrested by the special investigation team last month in connection with the 1994 murder of ANC school principal George Mbhele and initially denied bail in the Port Shepstone Magistrate’s Court, was last week granted bail of R15 000, following an appeal in the Durban Supreme Court. The state was also granted leave to appeal against the decision.